


We Be Screaming Go

by watchthestars



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, NCT Dream Ensemble-centric, On the Run, Recreational Drug Use, Suicidal Thoughts, Teenage Drama, Teenage Rebellion, Underage Drinking, based off the go mv, gets progressively darker im sorry, rated m for drugs alcohol and some hot stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-09-19 14:11:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17003157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchthestars/pseuds/watchthestars
Summary: Seven private school boys are sick of living up to their parents expectations for them. They're sick of good grades, going to bed early, and having no fun. When they trade in their uniforms for t-shirts and jeans and they trade in their respectable mouths for cussing and smoking, they realize that being young and freaky is much more fun.But soon, the dream wears off, and the boys are left running from their parents, their pasts, and the law.





	1. jaemin.

Friday. 2 March, 2018. 3:37 AM.

 

Jaemin was awoken in the middle of the night by a phone call.

 

He internally groaned the moment his eyes blinked open in his dark bedroom. As he rolled over to see who would be calling him, he saw his alarm clock reading 3:37AM. He swore, whoever was waking him on a school night would get an earful.

 

Jaemin reached out until his hand landed on his phone. He glanced at the screen and nearly declined it when he saw who was calling. But, he figured, if he was calling at this time, it must’ve been important. He pressed answer.

 

He put his phone by his ear. “What do you want, Mark?” He said, his voice gravelly with sleep. 

 

“Hey, Jaemin.” Mark responded, seeming too casual for calling Jaemin at 3 in the morning. “Can you talk?”

 

Jaemin leaned back, getting comfortable on the bed in case this was what he thought it was. “Yes, Mark, I can. Do you need something?”

 

Mark sighed on the other end of the line. “I want to talk.”

 

It was just as Jaemin had expected. Mark had a tendency to call people out of absolute nowhere just to talk about what was going on in his mind. It wasn’t like Jaemin was annoyed by it. Mark was one of his best friends, and he often had some good input on the way the world worked. However, lately, Mark had one thought on his mind.

 

“I still want to go to LA, Jaemin.” Mark told him. And Jaemin sighed, just like he had the other hundred times Mark had voiced his desire to leave home. And admittedly, Jaemin agreed with him. The other members of their friend group were a little iffy on the idea, which was the reason they hadn’t gone yet. 

 

Mark’s desire to go to LA sprouted from the hatred of their current lives. The rest of the group could completely agree with this. They also felt trapped in this life, in this city, by their parents. They were rich. They went to private school. They made good grades. But they were not happy.

 

“I want to go too, Mark.” Jaemin responded quietly. “But you know that it’s virtually impossible.” This was sad, but true. They currently lived in Beverly Hills, gated residences. And to go to LA would include a car. And to have a car, they’d need their parents permission. And there was no way in hell that anyone in the group’s parents would let them take a car to Downtown LA. To the wealthy parents, LA was grimy and no place for teenagers to be roaming the streets.

 

“I called Donghyuck earlier to talk about it.” Mark told him. Jaemin’s interest peaked at the mention of Donghyuck, who would be Mark’s boyfriend if Mark’s parents weren’t homophobic. Donghyuck was a very influential person in the friend group, and if Donghyuck said yes, it would be no problem to get the others to agree as well.

 

“What did he say?” Jaemin inquired. 

 

“He said yes.” Mark replied, obviously trying to hide the excitement in his voice. Jaemin’s jaw dropped. Donghyuck said that he wanted to go? That was amazing. 

 

“That’s great!” Jaemin cheered, in a whisper, since it was still 3 in the morning. “It will be easier to get the other’s to agree. But what about, you know, school or transportation to get there, or where we would even stay?”

 

“Donghyuck had a great plan.” Mark said. Jaemin widened his eyes at that notion. Donghyuck was the most rebellious out of the entire friend group. However, rebellious wasn’t saying much, considering the worst thing he’d ever done was get tipsy at his aunt’s wedding and then called Mark and confessed to him. But the tiny bit of rebellion would surely expand more in a situation like this.

 

“You know how Jeno’s parents are going on vacation all next week?” Mark started, and Jaemin knew exactly where this plan was going. He hummed in response, pushing Mark to continue speaking. “We can tell our parents we’re spending the week at his house to help him house-sit. And Jeno has a car. So we take it, and we spend a week in LA.”

 

Jaemin swallowed, having more than a few questions. “Is Jeno okay with this?”

 

“He will be, once the love of his life looks up at him with puppy dog eyes and asks him very nicely.” Mark hinted, and Jaemin immediately picked up on what he meant. He meant that Jaemin should ask Jeno to go along with the plan, since Jeno was apparently ‘in love’ with him. Jaemin didn’t personally agree, he thought that Jeno liked Renjun. But, he’d try his hardest to get this plan to work out.

 

“And where are we planning on staying when we get to LA? We can’t exactly wander the streets.” Jaemin pointed out.

 

“We’ll either stay in a hotel or crash at Jungwoo’s apartment.” Mark stated, as if that was the obvious answer. 

 

Jaemin almost choked. “Jungwoo’s apartment? You still talk to Jungwoo?” Jaemin was shocked. Jungwoo graduated from their school two years ago. He was one of Mark’s family friends, and Jaemin knew that the second he graduated he packed up and moved to LA, but he didn’t know that Mark still talked to him.

“Yes, and I’m sure he’ll be fine with us staying there. And as far as money goes, we obviously have that covered.” Mark chuckled. It sounded a bit conceited, but he was right. Being rich had its perks.

 

“I guess when we go over to Renjun’s house we’ll try and convince the others.” Jaemin stated. Mark hummed in agreement. “Let’s just hope this works out.” Jaemin added, the apprehension in his voice apparent.

 

But, even if Jaemin was nervous, he was still excited. The possibility of escaping the dead-end reality of being seen as a good, studious boy send shivers throughout his body. He pondered for a moment what they would do. He smirked as he imagined drinking, or doing drugs, or cussing or going to a party or just having fun roaming the streets of LA with his best friends.

 

“I’ll see you at Renjun’s.” Mark stated. 

 

Jaemin nodded to himself, biting his lip to contain a smile. This could finally be his ticket out. 

 

“I’ll see you then, goodnight Mark.”

 

And with that, Jaemin set down his phone, sunk down into his bed, and allowed himself to drift to sleep with the sweet thought of escape on his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this wasn't terrible, considering it's my first fic on here. Thank you for reading! This is only the beginning, so please anticipate it getting better. Feedback is bliss.


	2. jaemin.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to convince the rest of the group to go to LA. Also, Jaemin is angry, Jeno is whipped, Donghyuck is sassy, Mark is desperate, Renjun is upset, Chenle is laughing, and Jisung is innocent. What's new?

Friday. 2 March 2018.

 

Jaemin woke up in the morning at 7:30, just as he always did. He struggled getting out of bed, which he’d have Mark's 3AM phone call to blame. He had to drag himself from his bed after responding to the message in the group chat from Jeno asking him what coffee he wanted this morning.

 

He heard the bustling downstairs and assumed the housekeepers had already come, considering that it was Friday morning. This also meant his mother would already be dressed with her makeup done even though all she did was sit at home while his father was at work, yelling at underpaid people to work harder so he’d make even more money.

 

Jaemin opened the door of his bedroom, hoping that he could sneak to the bathroom to shower without his mother noticing. Luckily, he had his own bathroom and he wasn’t on the same floor on his parents, so he assumed his mother wouldn’t cross his path.

 

However, as Jaemin was approaching his bathroom, he was interrupted. “Jaemin!” A cheery voice called, and Jaemin let out a sigh before turning around to face his mother.

 

Her face was painted up as it always was. She was dressed in a nice shirt and pants with high heels. Jaemin knew it was probably Versace or Chanel, something that cost more than some people’s weekly incomes. It was all so materialistic that it made Jaemin want to laugh. All of the most expensive clothes and the makeup artist’s work couldn’t hide unhappiness.

 

“How did you sleep, honey?” His mother asked with such fake sincerity that Jaemin nearly scoffed in her face. He opted out of his normal attitude he had with his mother, since he’d be asking to spend a week at Jeno’s.

 

“Alright, how about you?” Jaemin inquired. He noted the surprised look on his mother’s face at her son actually being kind in the morning.

 

“I slept really great.” His mother replied. There was a moment of awkward silence. Since Jaemin was rarely kind to his mother, the two didn’t really know how to interact like this. Usually Jaemin would ignore her in the mornings, because most likely she’d have spent the night before drinking and yelling at him.

 

All Jaemin could think was how ready he was to get the hell out of here and go to LA. And finally let some of his anger out without having to think about school or being respectable or his parents.

 

“Mother, can I ask you something?” Jaemin finally said. He did, indeed, call his mom ‘mother’. He had always felt like ‘mom’ was too friendly for such a cruel woman.

 

“Of course, son.” She nodded. Jaemin _despised_ when she called him son. It made him realize the hell that he’d been forced into.

 

“You know my friend, Jeno.” He stated. She nodded. “His parents are going on vacation to Seoul for all of next week and he needs someone to help him house-sit. Do you mind if I stay with him?” Jaemin asked, hoping and praying that she’d let him go.

 

His mother blinked at him, with her face emotionless as always. “Lee Jeno is a respectable boy. I expect a phone call every night. And no guests that his parents don’t allow.” She answered, and Jaemin smiled.

 

Jaemin could tell that his mother knew something was up when Jaemin smiled. He never smiled around her because either he had no reason to smile or she would take it as he was being disrespectful. Jaemin saw a familiar angered glint in her eyes, but he knew she wouldn’t try anything with the housekeepers around.

 

“Thanks, mother. You’re the best.” Jaemin quickly responded before turning and finally heading into the bathroom to take a shower.

 

As Jaemin stared into the mirror, he couldn’t help but smile. He’d actually gotten a yes from his mother. Now, as long as he convinced the others, he’d finally get a chance to be free.

  
-

 

Jaemin was settled into his desk in first period. He felt as if the day was dragging on relentlessly slow, and it was only 9:15 in the morning. He had rushed out the door without breakfast. He heard the call from one of the maids that it was necessary for him to eat, but he had ignored it. It wasn’t like he needed those sweet old ladies looking after him, anyways.

 

Jaemin was the first one of his friends to arrive to class, so he had stared around pretending that he had something to do until Renjun, Jeno, and Donghyuck finally walked in. Jaemin immediately smiled and sat up, motioning for them to come closer.

 

Jeno’s arms were full with four coffee cups. Jaemin stood up and immediately grabbed all from him and sat them down on the table, motioning for Jeno to sit down.

 

“Renjun, what are you doing?!” Jaemin had snapped at the boy jokingly. “Old man Jeno can’t be trusted with my precious coffee!” Jaemin had reached for his coffee, which was most likely very dangerous to his heart’s health, but he continued to chug it down anyways.

 

“Your precious coffee is gonna give you a heart attack.” Donghyuck stated, soliciting a laugh out of the other boys. He might’ve had a point… six shots of espresso wasn’t exactly good for you.

 

Jeno and Renjun chose the seats on either side of Jaemin, and Donghyuck took a seat next to Renjun. The four boys conversed for a bit, the topics jumping from what homework was due today, to which new couples in the school had gotten together, before the LA trip was brought up.

 

Donghyuck started it. “Mark called me last night about the LA trip.” He had said, and in response, Jeno had groaned and Renjun rolled his eyes.

 

“When will he get over that? It’s just not possible, and he of all people should know that. His parents would kill him if he ever went to LA.” Jeno had stated, obviously annoyed with Mark’s desire.

 

Jaemin swallowed, peering to Renjun to see his reaction. The smaller boy was nodding in agreement while Jeno spoke. “I want to go, but if my parents knew I was going to LA they’d put a goddamn tracker on me.”

 

Jaemin flinched at Renjun’s use of a swear word. He glared over his shoulder at the teacher, thankful that it hadn’t been noticed. At this school, cursing was literally punishable. Jaemin thought that was fucking stupid, but you couldn’t afford getting in trouble here if you didn’t want to ruin your reputation or even worse, have your parents cancel your card for being disrespectful. God, Jaemin’s life was sad… these people were controlled by authority and money. It sucked.

 

Jaemin knew Renjun was serious about not really wanting to go since he swore. But, Jaemin also knew that if he convinced Jeno, it would be easy to get Renjun to agree.

 

So, Jaemin took one last sip of his coffee before turning to Jeno and blinking up at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage. “Jenooo,” Jaemin had whined, extending the vowels in the cutest way he could.

 

Jaemin’s whine immediately gained Jeno’s attention. Jaemin continued. “You really don’t wanna go? To LA? To be free, to be young, to be freaky?” He pouted with a sing-song lilt to his voice.

 

Jeno blinked down at him, his gaze traveling from Jaemin’s grip on his arm back to his big blinking eyes. Jaemin knew it was a sight Jeno just couldn’t say no to.

 

“I guess I could think about it.” Jeno sighed, and the second a smile broke out on Jaemin’s face, Jeno showed pride in getting that out of him.

 

Jaemin looked over at Renjun, who was smiling at the two with an unreadable expression on his face. However, the second he met eyes with Jaemin, he had looked away, flustered. Jaemin thought it was cute. He hoped the cute action had meant that Renjun would think about it also.

 

Jaemin turned his head when he heard a scoff from Donghyuck. “Whipped.” The tan boy chuckled. Jaemin was always told that Jeno was ‘whipped’ for him. Jaemin just thought that Jeno was so kind to him because they’re best friends.

 

Suddenly, Jaemin’s attention was pulled away by the arrival of Mark, Chenle, and Jisung. Donghyuck had immediately leaped from his seat to greet Mark. Jaemin rose an eyebrow. Who was whipped now?

 

Chenle and Jisung took their seats next to each other. Chenle was already laughing about something and Jaemin prayed his ear drums would recover from spending the night with Chenle, also known as the guy who laughs at everything who also happens to have the loudest laugh on the face of the planet.

 

Jeno reached over, handing Chenle a cup of coffee. The younger boy thanked him. Jisung looked over at the cup with a disgusted look on his face.

 

“I would’ve got you something, Jisung, if you weren’t to wuss to drink coffee.” Jeno teased, getting a laugh out of Chenle. Jisung scrunched his nose and glanced up at both of them.

 

“I’m not wuss, my mom just doesn’t like it when I drink it…” Jisung said in a small voice, which reminded Jaemin of how much of a goody-goody Jisung was. He sighed. He obviously wanted Jisung to come with them to LA, but… maybe it would be better if he didn’t go? He was only sixteen afterall. And it would be difficult to convince him, anyways…

 

Jaemin shook his head. Of course Jisung had to come. What was he thinking? Jisung was a member of the group just like the rest of them, no matter how good he behaved.

 

Jaemin glanced up, looking towards Mark. He needed to let him know that things were set up positively. He saw Mark smiling at Donghyuck, who was telling him a story with obnoxious sound effects and huge hand motions.

 

“Mark!” Jaemin called. The older boy looked at him, eyes immediately inquiring. “It’s looking good.” Jaemin smiled, and Mark nodded confidently.

 

Jaemin leaned back in his seat, getting comfortable and preparing to ignore all his teachers and let his mind wander to LA.

  
-

 

Thankfully, the rest of Jaemin’s day passed by relatively quickly. He did pretty much nothing in his classes, considering he went to private school and the curriculum was crafted by the teachers to be really fucking easy.

 

When his last class of the day finally finished, he rushed into the hallways where Jeno and Renjun waited for him like they did everyday.

 

He was thankful to finally be with his friends, especially considering that he wasn’t planning on coming back to school the entire next week. He’s be lying if he said excitement didn’t course through his veins at the thought of doing something wrong.

 

“Jaemin, you won’t believe what Donghyuck told me today in third period.” Renjun started the conversation as the group of 3 were making their way through the hallways towards the exit of the school.

 

“Ooh, do tell.” Jaemin nodded, wanting to see what ridiculousness had left Donghyuck’s mouth at this point.

 

“Apparently, he’s got this entire plan to go to LA, and he’s like, planned it out without any of us, when the plan includes things like Jeno’s house!” Renjun said incredulously.

 

Oh. Renjun didn't want to go at all?

 

“I mean, is LA so bad?” Jaemin asked hopefully. He knew that Renjun and Donghyuck often butted heads about the smallest of things, and if the plan had come from anyone other than Donghyuck, Renjun probably would’ve said yes.

 

“LA?” Renjun replied, confused. “Oh, no. I don’t care about LA, I’m fine with that. Donghyuck’s just so… he acts like he’s in charge of all of us.” Jaemin was thankful that Renjun was good with LA, but his disagreement with Donghyuck couldn't go unnoticed.

 

The three of them got awkwardly silent as Donghyuck and Renjun’s disagreement was apparently more serious. Jaemin rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what to do or say. Apparently, almost two years ago, something had happened between Renjun and Donghyuck that they had told no one about, and that’s what led to the two of them fighting, both serious and jokingly, all the time.

 

Jaemin hadn’t been in the friend group at the time it happened, but Jeno had told him that Renjun and Donghyuck had a sleepover at an old friend’s house, and they went almost 2 weeks without talking after the sleepover until the two of them hung out and things remained awkward ever since.

 

Jaemin noticed how Jeno had leaned over to place a comforting hand on Renjun’s shoulder. _Jeno is so good,_ Jaemin thought.

 

“Jeno, do you care about LA?” Jaemin moved the conversation along. Jeno blinked over at him.

 

“I honestly would maybe… like to go.” Jeno stated, and Jaemin couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sure my parents will let you guys stay over while they’re gone. Ooh, you guys could meet my cats, and we could play Mario Kart, and we could bake cookies!” Jeno added, eye smile appearing at his thoughts.

 

Renjun leaned forward, raising a brow at Jeno’s giddy state. “You do realize we’re going to LA and not really to your house, Jeno?”

 

“Let him dream, Renjun!” Jaemin teased, and the three of them began to laugh together. Jaemin felt happy. He liked when the three of them were together. He felt at home.

 

As the three of them were laughing, they made their way out of the front doors of the school where the others were waiting for them. Jaemin noticed Chenle had a very distressed look on his face as Jisung was attempting to calm him down, while Mark and Donghyuck laughed.

 

“Renjun!” Chenle called the moment the three of them came into view. “I got something on my uniform, will your mom wash it for me?” Chenle was obviously exasperated.

 

Renjun nodded. “Sure, you know she loves you. What did you spill on it?”

 

Chenle shot a sharp glance to Jisung, who looked apologetic. “ _I_ didn’t spill anything. Jisung Park’s clumsy self knocked his organic smoothie all over me at lunch!” Chenle exclaimed.

 

“I said I was sorry…” Jisung murmured.

 

“Anyways, Chenle’s mental breakdown aside, I can’t wait to live it up at the Huang’s house!” Donghyuck cheered as he entered the conversation. Renjun rose an eyebrow, while Mark laughed hysterically at Donghyuck as he always did.

 

“Living it up by watching Cake Boss with my mom?” Renjun chuckled, which sent the group into fits of laughter. Donghyuck rolled his eyes. Jaemin smiled. He was glad the two of them weren’t really fighting.

 

“I watch Cake Boss with Mrs. Huang once and I never live it down. Meanwhile, Jeno burns an entire tray of cookies and you still praise him!” Donghyuck whined, gaining an arm around the shoulder from Renjun, who was still laughing.

 

“That’s because he’s _Jeno_!” Jisung exclaims, motioning to the black-haired boy. Jisung had a point. In Renjun’s eyes, Jeno could do no wrong.

 

“Okay, so, he’s Jeno, and what am I?” Donghyuck inquires with expectant eyes.

 

Without missing a beat, Mark says, “Annoying.” Just loud enough for the entire group to hear and thus causing the group to burst into a huge fit of laughter. Donghyuck punched Mark in the shoulder, but he still had a smile on his face.

 

As their laughter died down, Renjun glanced down at his phone. “Let’s go, my driver is here.” Renjun motioned for them to follow. Jaemin literally _hated_ that Renjun said ‘his driver’ was there. I mean, of course there was no way else to word it, but it just reminded him of how much he hated his own lifestyle. It wasn’t even like it was just Renjun, everyone in the group had their own drivers who got them from school. Jaemin despised it.

 

As they made their way towards Renjun’s car, Jaemin took a moment to exhale and think. He really was hopeful that they’d get to leave this place, and get away… He just hoped it was possible.

 

They arrived at Renjun’s house, more like mansion, and Jaemin was reminded of just how _ridiculously_ rich Renjun was. His father was like a super known businessman in China, and they still had factories out there producing stuff and they kept getting money. Jaemin never got the specifics, he just knew that Renjun was like China royalty and that he could probably buy the entire city of Beverly Hills if he really wanted.

 

The moment the seven boys stepped through Renjun’s front doors, they were greeted by his mother, who was just the sweetest little lady ever. Mrs. Huang pretty much allowed Renjun to run the house, a power that Donghyuck always said he wasted. Jaemin had to agree— if Renjun really wanted, he could have some insane parties in his house, but he always said that wasn’t his style.

 

“Hello boys!” Mrs. Huang greeted them, pulling Renjun into an immediate hug and pressing a kiss to his forehead. However, she let Renjun go the second she saw Chenle to pull him into a hug instead. Chenle was literally Mrs. Huang’s favorite person, and Renjun would often tell stories of his family begging to have Chenle over. It was probably just because Chenle loved to speak Chinese with her.

 

Renjun rolled his eyes, walking down the main hallway and motioning for the boys to follow him down into his basement, where they usually had their sleepovers because Renjun had a theatre and game room down there.

 

They went down the stairs and into Renjun’s basement. The moment they got down there, they all threw their bags onto the floor and collapsed onto the couches, a lot of them going to check their phones or throw off their ties from their uniforms.

 

Donghyuck sighed loudly from the loveseat he and Mark were on. He glanced over to Renjun. “Your mom’s kinda hot.” He said, obviously joking, but in a very serious voice.

 

Renjun chucked a pillow at him, gaining a laugh from the others as it struck Donghyuck directly in the face.

 

“Where the hell’s Chenle?” Jeno asked, sitting up and looking around the room.

 

“Language!” Mark gasped, fake-offended as he leapt to cover Jisung’s ears. “Children are present!” Even Jaemin laughed at that one.

 

Just then, Chenle came down the stairs. As everyone glanced over at him, Renjun sat up and gasped. “You’re wearing my church clothes!”

 

“Well yeah,” Chenle shrugged, walking over to set his stuff down next to Jisung on the other loveseat. “Your mom is washing my uniform and she gave me these to wear.”

 

Renjun shook his head and laid back down to rest between Jaemin and Jeno on the couch, his head settling on Jaemin’s lap. “It’s been like 12 minutes and I’m already sick of y’all.”

 

A gasp from Jaemin. “Did you just say y’all?” Jaemin rose his brow, smirking down at the boy laying on him. Jaemin gulped as Renjun blinked up at him, an emotion in his eyes that Jaemin couldn’t decipher.

 

“Stop looking at him like that before I puke!” Donghyuck warned, beginning to make fake gagging noises when Jaemin didn’t stop. Jaemin liked looking at Renjun like that, and he liked that Renjun was giving him the same look.

 

“All jokes aside, are we a go for LA?” Mark asked out of nowhere, ending all the other conversation and sounds in the room. There were glances shared, but no one gave a straight away answer.

 

“We’re going to LA?” Chenle gasped, excitement painted across his face.

 

“We’re not sure.” Jeno replied immediately, Chenle furrowing his brow in response to Jeno’s quick decline.

 

“Well, we need to talk about it.” Jaemin acknowledged, blinking at Jeno kindly. Jeno softened at Jaemin’s words. Jaemin nearly smiled as he realized his words had that much power over Jeno.

 

“I say we go.” Donghyuck stated.

 

“I say you’re an idiot and we’re going to get killed in LA.” Renjun retorted, the sharpness in his voice seemingly coming from nowhere.

 

Donghyuck looked up at him with a stoic but upset face. Jaemin admitted the look shared between the two was tense in a strange way. He wondered if he’d ever get to know what happened between them.

 

“Listen, we’ll be able to stay with Jungwoo. We could take your car, we have enough money to buy what we want, Jungwoo is legal to buy us stuff…” Mark suggested, the desperation of his desire was apparent in his eyes as he glared at Jeno.

 

“Like alcohol?” Jisung gasped from the other side of the room, his small eyes as wide as they could go.

 

“Welcome to teenage life, Jisung. We’ll get to see what the public school kids experience.” Donghyuck smiled over at the youngest.

 

Jisung just stared at him. “My mom tells me that public school kids get drunk, have sex, and end up with unwanted pregnancies.”

 

Renjun laughed loudly at that. “Jisung, sweetie, it’s not exactly like we’re going to be sleeping with girls.”

 

Jaemin nodded at that. Girls were never really too big of a part in any of their lives. Jeno had a girlfriend last year, but he broke up with her because she hated one of his cats.

 

“Ooh, let’s get a hooker!” Jaemin exclaimed with a wide smile on his face. The statement got him a punch in the shoulder from Renjun, but a laugh from Jeno.

 

“What’s a hooker?” Chenle asked, sending everyone except him and Jisung into a bout of giggles. The statement went ignored as Jeno showed that he was really contemplating LA.

 

Jeno looked over at Mark finally. “I mean, we’ll be with Jungwoo… and we’ll finally get out into the world… and maybe get _drunk…”_ A smile appeared on Jeno’s face, which Jaemin took as a good sign.

 

Everyone in the room was now looking at Renjun, who was clearly the only skeptical one left in the room (minus Jisung, but if everyone else went, Jisung would end up going too because without Mark he had no ride to school).

 

“If Jeno and Jaemin are going…” Renjun sighed, his lips pressed together with doubt as he looked around the room at everyone. “I guess I’ll go.”

 

“Chenle? Jisung?” Mark inquired, looking to the two youngest to ensure them as well. Jisung looked like a deer in headlights, while Chenle couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face.

 

“Will there be snacks provided, and can I tell my mom I’m staying at your house?” Jisung bit his lip anxiously as he glanced towards Jeno.

 

Jeno’s eye smile appeared. “Yes, Jisung, you can tell your mom that. And Donghyuck is in charge of snacks.”

 

“If Jisung’s going, then I’m going!” Chenle cheered, his annoying laugh coming out yet again, which got a smile out of the rest of the group.

 

“Tomorrow we can go by our houses and pack, and I guess we’ll leave tomorrow night.” Jeno suggested, the rest of the group nodding with dumb grins on their faces.

 

“Holy shit.” Jaemin breathed out loud. Everyone looked at him, visibly shocked by his random cursing. “We’re actually going to run away for a week? To LA? To stay with some dude in college, and to drink, and do drugs and party and just go crazy?” Jaemin was talking at the speed of light, but he didn’t stop smiling. He got to do all of that with his favorite people around.

 

“Until then, how about we just play Mario Kart and watch some movies, since we’ve got some long days of illegal activity ahead of us?” Renjun suggested, and everyone responded with cheers and laughter.

 

Jaemin couldn’t believe it. Finally. Happiness was coming.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the support on the Prologue! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's not the best but I'm happy with it. It sets up a lot of future conflicts and some things that will be brought up as the story progresses, so I hope you liked it! Feedback is bliss!


	3. jaemin.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to... get ready and go to LA! Also, Jaemin is hurting, Jeno is a mystery, Donghyuck is annoying, Mark is shouting, Renjun is weirdly loving, Chenle is... there, and Jisung is somehow the baddest bitch of them all. What's new?

Saturday. 3 March 2018. 

 

Jaemin woke up with a horrendous headache.

 

The moment he opened his eyes he felt his head start to pound, which led him to violently let out some sort of hissing noise into the air as he yanked the blanket back across his face to protect him from the evil that was known as sunlight coming through Renjun’s windows.

 

“Sleeping beauty has awoken.” A teasing voice murmured. Jaemin peeked one eye out to see who had said that, and he saw Jeno sitting up on Renjun’s bed, glancing down at Jaemin with that cute little eye smile on his face.

 

After the boys had stayed up playing Mario Kart until around 4AM the night previous, they had a tiny argument over sleeping arrangements in which Donghyuck called multiple people a whore and Jisung eventually ended up hitting him over the head with a pillow to get him to shut up. 

 

In the end, Jeno and Renjun had shared Renjun’s bed (which Jaemin was  _ totally not mad about _ ) while Jaemin, Mark, and Donghyuck had crowded on top of a huge pile of blankets on the floor next to Renjun’s bed. Jisung and Chenle ended up in the guest room, the kind accomodations made by Mrs. Huang just for Chenle.

 

“Are you the first awake?” Jaemin yawned, stretching out his arms and wiping the sleep from his eyes. Donghyuck was still knocked out on the floor, his phone still right next to him from when he had fallen asleep holding it, threatening to call 911 if Jisung came near him with a pillow again. Jaemin looked back to Jeno who shook his head in response. 

 

“It’s 3PM.” Jeno said. Jaemin widened his eyes, nearly embarrassed if he and Donghyuck were the only ones who had slept that late. Jeno chuckled at Jaemin’s expression. “Don’t worry, the others just woke up. And it’s not like we’re in a rush.” 

 

Jaemin sighed with relief. Unfortunately, he was struck yet again with the strength of his headache. Jaemin pushed himself to sit up. “I need to go beg Mrs. Huang for some aspirin.” 

 

Jeno got off from on the bed and reached down to grab Jaemin’s hand and help him up. Jaemin thought he felt his heart flutter. Just a little bit. 

 

Jeno pulled Jaemin up. “What about Donghyuck?” Jaemin asked. Jeno rolled his eyes.

 

“He’s already woke up.” Jeno shrugged. Jaemin furrowed his brow with confusion. “He woke up at like 10, made out with Mark, ate like four donuts, and went back to bed. He’ll wake up and see that no one’s in here and he’ll come down.” Jeno explained. 

 

Jaemin nodded. That sounded like Donghyuck. 

 

Jeno and Jaemin left Donghyuck sleeping in the bedroom and walked out, down the hallway until they went down the stairs. Jaemin heard the conversations of the other boys coming from downstairs.

 

“Jeno! Jaemin!” A sweet voice called just as the two hit the last step. Jaemin was met with Renjun dashing towards them with the kindest smile on his face. “I thought you’d never wake up.” He sighed, and suddenly, pulled Jaemin into a hug.

 

Jaemin would be lying if he said he wasn’t left in shock. Renjun was normally kind to him, sure, but this blatant affection was a bit out of the ordinary. Jaemin wrapped his arms around Renjun’s waist. Over Renjun’s shoulder, Jaemin and Jeno made eye contact and Jeno had the exact same look of surprise across his face.

 

After the initial shock, however, Jaemin decided that he very much liked the warmth of Renjun’s embrace. 

 

Renjun let go, and he dragged both Jeno and Jaemin towards the kitchen by their arms. “The chef didn’t make anything this morning, since it’s Saturday and my family will be out all day. I went ahead and got some McDonald’s from Uber Eats.” Renjun explained as the three walked into his kitchen, which was probably bigger than some people’s houses.

 

Chenle and Mark sat at the counter, shoveling french fries into their mouths while simultaneously laughing hysterically at something. Jisung was sitting criss-cross in front of the fridge, staring up into it, looking for something to drink.

 

“Goddamnit, Jisung, take a freaking La Croix and move on with your life! You’re letting out all the cold air!” Renjun scoffed. Jisung looked back at the older boy, eyes wide with indecision. 

 

“But should I drink a coconut or lime La Croix?” Jisung sighed. 

 

His question was ignored as Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun settled at the counter as well, reaching out and grabbing whatever they wanted from the plentiful (around seven) McDonald’s bags that were on the counter. 

 

Jaemin rubbed at his head, which was still pounding. “Renjun, do you have any aspirin?” He pleaded. Renjun pointed towards a cabinet, muffling an ‘are you okay’ before Jeno shoved a nugget in his mouth. 

 

Jaemin turned and opened up the cabinet, grabbing each bottle and looking at the labels. He saw all kinds of pills except the one he needed, before he took hold of an orange bottle with a prescription on it. He looked closer at it, seeing Jeno’s name written on the label.  _ That’s strange…  _ Jaemin thought.  _ Why would Jeno have a bottle of pills at Renjun’s house?  _  He curiously read more before he saw the word ‘antidepressant’ on it. Jaemin suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He glared over at Jeno, who was currently smiling at something that Renjun had said, leaning forward and resting his hand on Renjun’s shoulder as he giggled.

 

Jaemin gulped as he watched Jeno.  _ He’s depressed…? _ , Jaemin thought, confusion and sadness rising in him. Why the hell did Jeno have fucking antidepressants at Renjun’s house? He didn’t know if he was more upset that Jeno was depressed or at the fact that he had never noticed something was off.

 

Jaemin scoured his brain for any reason that Jeno would have pills at Renjun’s house. Until he found one that made his heart drop. What if… Renjun and Jeno were… a thing. Jaemin had always thought about it, always watched the way the boys he liked like each other more. Why else would these be at Renjun’s house? It meant that Renjun knew. Jaemin was Jeno’s best friend, or so Jeno had always told him. It must mean that Renjun was more important than he was.

 

Jaemin shook his head to get rid of the thoughts that sickened him so badly.

 

He quickly shoved the bottle of antidepressants back up on the shelf, definitely not wanting any of the boys to know what he knew. He sifted through the rest of the bottles until he found some aspirin and graciously swallowed them down. He pushed the thoughts of Jeno’s pills out of his mind, not wanting to think about him feeling any type of pain or make himself feel any pain in the meantime.

 

Just as Jaemin returned to the group of boys conversing, they were distracted by the figure of Donghyuck entering the room, dragging his feet like a toddler that had been awakened from his nap. 

 

“I genuinely thought you died.” Chenle stated as Donghyuck approached them. The tan boy said nothing in response, simply going to rest his head on Mark’s shoulder. Jaemin tried not to smile at how cute the two were. 

 

“Jungwoo told us to come to his apartment at 4. How does that sound?” Mark asked the group. Jaemin furrowed his brow, looking down at his phone. 

 

“Mark… it’s already 3:30 and it’s a 20 minute drive, and we haven’t even gotten Jeno’s car.” Jaemin raised his eyebrow. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and being late wouldn’t be any fun.

 

“We went and got it this morning, Jaem.” Renjun told him, and Jaemin sighed with relief that they didn’t have to worry about that. He didn’t ignore the fact that Renjun and Jeno went together by themselves, but he just decided not to think about it and make himself upset. 

 

“But uh… we should probably clean up.” Jisung pointed out, motioning towards all the McDonald’s and all the cans of La Croix that the boys had consumed. 

 

“True,” Renjun nodded, and then all of the boys joined together to throw out all the trash, shoving it into the trash cans while enduring the orders from Renjun, who was just telling them what to do while standing there doing nothing.

 

Jaemin was honestly exhausted after cleaning it all up, mentally scolding the others for being such pigs. 

 

“Well, let’s go.” Mark stated, and he was met with silence from the rest of them. Jaemin felt his heartbeat increase for some reason at the sudden reality that this was happening. He glanced over to look at Renjun and Jeno, who also seemed worried but had the smallest of smiles on their faces. Jaemin smiled brightly, looking down at the floor for a minute before meeting eyes with Mark. 

 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jaemin asked the group. 

 

And suddenly, everything was moving faster than he could comprehend. The boys were dashing up the stairs, collecting their clothes and everything else that they brought, shoving it in their bags. Jaemin and Jeno quickly made Renjun’s bed, cleaned up everything that anyone had left. They threw things to each other, making sure everyone had what they needed. Mark was supervising everyone like he was a chaperone, verifying that everyone had clothes, money, and their phone chargers. But Jaemin could tell that even Mark was overjoyed at everything, as he hadn’t stopped smiling for the past 10 minutes.

 

There were tiny conversations going on, and laughter was being spread, but it didn’t stop it from feeling so serious. It felt like this was the next chapter of their lives or something. Jaemin heard Chenle and Jisung muttering to each other about if they were gonna share clothes, he heard Donghyuck and Mark discussing how to make sure Mark’s parents wouldn’t find out, and he heard Renjun and Jeno laughing at him for listening to everyone else’s conversations instead of getting his stuff together. Jaemin had blushed and jokingly shoved both Renjun and Jeno.

 

And then they were skipping down the steps and out of the house. Renjun was making sure everything was closed and locked, before scribbling a kind note to his mother and sticking it on the fridge. Chenle signed it with a heart as well. The seven boys then said farewell to the house, and Jaemin had to drag Jeno away from where he was still hugging Renjun’s cat. They walked out of the house and down the driveway towards Jeno’s car, which just so happened to be his mom’s minivan. Jeno rolled his eyes at the hysterical laughter, which mainly came from Jisung and Chenle at such a seemingly cheap car for a group of rich boys.

 

“The only reason I have to bring the minivan is to fit your annoying asses in the back!” Jeno had snapped, sticking his tongue out at the two youngest. 

 

Jisung had simply blinked and muttered, “I love how we find this car cheap.” This had caused Chenle and the rest of the boys to laugh, including Jaemin, who ended up considering how sad it was that they found a forty-thousand dollar car cheap. 

 

The boys piled into the car, Donghyuck making a huge fuss at the fact that he had to sit in the same row as Renjun, which nearly ended up in a fist fight between the two. Eventually, Jaemin smacked both of them on the back of the head before just sitting in the middle so they didn’t have to be next to each other. Jaemin internally groaned at the thought of having to endure their immature banter for seven whole days. 

 

Once they finally settled into the car, Jaemin felt a sense of nervous joy sweep over him as Jeno pulled the car out of Renjun’s driveway. 

 

“We’re running away! Hell yeah!” Jisung shouted from the backseat, everyone else responding with equally excited cheers and one shout of ‘language!’ from Mark in the passenger seat.

 

The first few minutes of the car ride were bearable until Mark started playing a country song, which was met with screams that could only be described as pure horror. 

 

“For the love of God, please turn it off, Mark!” Jaemin had pleaded, his hands shielding Renjun’s ears from what he said was the musical embodiment of the devil.

 

“It’s not a bad song, you guys are just-” Mark began, only to be cut off. 

 

“Markie, I love you, but if you don’t stop this torture, I will drive this car off of a bridge.” Jeno threatened. Mark widened his eyes, taking Jeno’s threat seriously, as he pulled the aux cord out of his phone and left the car in silence. 

 

Unfortunately, this created a whole new problem as Chenle and Donghyuck began shouting with their desire to play music. Jaemin rolled his eyes and threw his head back against the seat.

 

“I want the aux, I want the aux, I want the aux!” Donghyuck chanted from next to Jaemin, reaching forward and clawing at Mark’s shoulder. 

 

Renjun looked over at Jaemin as Donghyuck kept repeating himself. “I’m going to kill him.” Renjun said in an extremely serious voice.  He still had his hands pressed against his ears as Donghyuck’s pleading continued. 

 

Finally, once Donghyuck got the aux cord, he looked back over at Renjun. “You wanna fucking fight?” Donghyuck rose his brow and his hands formed into tiny fists. 

 

The next thirty seconds included Jaemin having to physically hold Renjun back from either biting or punching Donghyuck, while the tanned boy was yelling mockingly at him. 

 

“Could we just play some music, Donghyuck?” Jaemin shouted over the voices in the car. Donghyuck stopped yelling to shrug. Finally, Renjun submitted to Jaemin’s grasp, weakening in his arms. The small boy yanked his body away from Jaemin. 

 

“Just play something.” Renjun ordered, pointing at Donghyuck. Donghyuck did as he was told, looking on his phone for something to play. Jaemin watched Renjun push his hair out of his face before frustratingly turning and glaring out of the window. 

 

Donghyuck finally selected a song. Womanizer by Britney Spears began to blast through the speakers. While Jeno and Mark collectively groaned at Donghyuck’s choice, Renjun turned back to smile at Donghyuck. A true, genuine smile. 

 

Jaemin tilted his head inquisitively at Renjun, wondering why his mood to Donghyuck changed so suddenly. 

 

“It’s our song, since we were in like 4th grade.” Renjun laughed. Donghyuck then began dancing far too enthusiastically and screaming along to the lyrics. Soon enough, Renjun joined along. 

 

Around five minutes had passed, with Renjun and Donghyuck singing impossibly louder, the group was already driving along the streets in LA. Jaemin peered out of the window, around Renjun’s dancing figure, and he watched as they passed things he’d seen on drives before, but now he’d get to explore them on his own. 

 

In the front seat, Mark was having to scream the directions to Jeno because of just how loud the music was. Jaemin swore he was about to lose his hearing, but he humored Renjun and Donghyuck by taking Snapchat videos of them singing with his laughter audible in the background.

 

Suddenly, the car made one last turn, and Jeno was pulling into a parking space in a lot right in front of a slightly nice-looking apartment complex. Mark turned the volume all the way down, exposing Donghyuck and Renjun’s off tune scream-singing, which sent everyone into a fit of giggles. Mark silenced them all at once with a couple of claps. Jaemin rolled his eyes, but he still paid attention.

 

“Alright, shitheads. Jungwoo is in his second year of college, so he’s like, totally cool.” Mark had turned his body to look at everyone in the middle and back rows. “I swear to God, if you guys aren’t cool, I’ll beat your ass.” Mark pointed authoritatively. 

 

“Is that a promise?” Donghyuck winked at Mark. Mark had responded with a flustered face, meanwhile Jisung and Renjun made extensive gagging noises.

 

“Seriously!” Mark continued. “He’s a super… weird dude, but he’s older and cooler than all of us. Also, it’s great that he’s letting us stay with him so don’t be a bunch of little shits.” Mark threatened. 

 

And with that, they began exiting the car. They were throwing their bags at each other, Mark was shouting at Donghyuck to hurry up already, and Jisung and Chenle were trying not to kill themselves as they wedged themselves out of the back seats.

 

Jaemin slung his bag over his shoulder, inhaling the LA air (which was virtually the exact same as Beverly Hills air, but it wasn’t the same to him). He glanced around, drinking in the sight of the bustling streets where people could be doing extremely common or extremely illegal things. He loved it.

 

“You ready?” Jeno asked, slinging his arm over Jaemin’s shoulder. Renjun appeared besides the two of them as well. Jaemin tilted his head and nodded, but his eyes didn’t move as Renjun and Jeno’s conversation did. Jaemin found himself carefully examining the boys in front of him. But not in a rude way, not even in a friendly way… he found himself just looking at them because he never wanted to take his eyes off of them.

 

Jaemin felt a little flutter of joy in his stomach while looking at the two. Something different. Something had changed. He no longer saw his best friends. He saw Renjun and Jeno, two boys who were… his favorite. He could talk to them all day, he could look at them all day, he could dream of them all day. 

 

It was too bad they didn’t feel the same. 

 

Jaemin shrugged it off, trying to remain positive at the moment. He should be happy! He was in LA, for Christ’s sake! This was what he’d been wanting for so long. He decided that even if Renjun and Jeno only liked each other, he could find happiness in their company still. He could find happiness in everyone’s company when he was in LA.

 

Soon, the group were making their way into the building, and they were in the elevator, and they were going up to their week-long residence.

 

Jaemin smiled to himself. It was time for the best week of his life.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the wait! Finals week and the holidays had me so busy. This chapter is a bit short since it is pretty much filler, but it does have the start of some conflict, oooohhh! Next chapter may or may not have a new POV, I'm unsure at the moment. It should be out this weekend, nontheless. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Feedback is bliss!


	4. mark.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're in LA! Also, Jaemin is a confident gay, Jeno is jealous, Donghyuck is sick of Renjun, Mark is a sad gay, Renjun is a vape god, Chenle is sad, and Jisung is angry.

Saturday. 3 March 2018.

 

Mark was really beginning to feel like the chaperone of the friend group. 

 

They’d been in LA for no longer than 5 minutes, and he already had to stop 2 fights, save Donghyuck from choking, remind Chenle that it was most definitely not okay to piss on the side of the street, and teach Jeno how elevators worked. 

 

Mark swore if he didn’t die by the end of this week it meant that at least 4 of the others had. 

 

However, no matter how annoyingly stupid the rest of the boys were, Mark couldn’t hide his excitement to be away from home. He was quite honestly desperate to get out of his house and away from his parents. 

 

If he could even call them parents. 

 

Mark’s family life was tense to say the least. He never had the best relationship with his parents, and coming out to them didn’t do him any favors. It wasn’t even coming out, to be honest. His mom caught him and Donghyuck making out in the basement last year, and Mark’s life hadn’t been the same since.

 

His relationship with every single member of his family had been shattered. He’ll never forget the night that his mom caught him. She made Mark sit in the living room and watch as she called every single relative, distant or not, and tearfully told them that she had a gay son. 

 

Mark shook his head and came back to reality, the thoughts of that night making him angry. That was the last thing he wanted to be right now.

 

Mark gulped and glanced over at Donghyuck. Immediately, his heart softened when his eyes landed on the tan boy. Mark internally scolded himself. He shouldn’t be dwelling on the past, especially when he could be as open with affection as he wanted here. There were no adults watching, and most importantly everyone else knew that him and Donghyuck were a thing.

 

Mark rested his head on Donghyuck’s shoulder. He felt Donghyuck look down at him with shock. Mark was never the one to initiate displays of affection, but he really felt like he had to. He had to spend this week with Donghyuck as if it was his last.

 

The group was currently crowded into the elevator going up to Jungwoo’s apartment. Mark sighed to himself, really hoping that his friends wouldn’t embarrass him or themselves. That was the last thing Mark needed. He wanted to prove to Jungwoo that they were cool for high school kids. Even if Jisung was a 10th grader, he wanted Jungwoo to think of him as cool!   
  


Mark glared over at Chenle and Jisung who were currently competing to see who could mimic the sound of the elevator dinging the best. He’d be lying if he said his hope didn’t falter just a little bit.

 

As they reached the top floor, where Jungwoo’s apartment was, Mark gave all the youngers a look that simply stated, “please be cool”. 

 

Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun all collectively scoffed at Mark, but Mark noticed the way they all straightened up and fixed their clothes to appear well put together. If only Jisung, in his Nike sweatpants and Kanye West t-shirt, would think the same.

 

The group walked down the hallway towards apartment 6B, where Jungwoo lived. Mark thought he was going to go into cardiac arrest from how fast his heart was beating. He honestly couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or nervousness. Either way, he was pretty sure he might pee himself.

 

Mark knocked on the door. A few seconds of silence passed until a voice from inside shouted ‘coming!’. It sounded oddly deep to be Jungwoo’s voice, but he pushed that aside with all the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He expected Jungwoo to appear and kindly welcome them into his home!

 

What Mark did not expect, though, was the door to be opened by Wong Yukhei half naked with a juul in one hand, looking curiously as he saw the group.

 

“Yukhei?” Was all Mark could choke out, his eyes widening and jaw dropping out of pure shock. Yukhei was a year older than Mark, having graduated last year. He was Mark’s partner once in chemistry. But absolutely none of that answered the obvious question. Why in God’s name was Yukhei in Jungwoo’s apartment? And, follow up question, why is he shirtless?   
  


“Mark Lee!” Yukhei gasped, his classic big dumb smile spreading across his face. “And is that-  _ No! _ Little Huang Renjun and Zhong Chenle!” He cheered, opening the door all the way. However, Mark didn’t move an inch. He really hoped that this was Jungwoo’s apartment and that Yukhei was here by coincidence because he knew if he had just stumbled upon Yukhei’s apartment that he would be here conversing for 4 hours straight.

 

“Um…” Mark scratched at his neck, looking around at the other guys who all looked just as confused as he was. “Is this Kim Jungwoo’s apartment?” Mark asked, raising his eyebrows hopefully.

 

“Ohhhh!” Yukhei sighed in realization. “You’re Woo’s little friends!” He nodded to himself. Mark let out a breath of relief. At least it was Jungwoo’s apartment.

 

Yukhei stepped out of the way and motioned for the boys to come in. Mark nodded awkwardly at him and began to walk in with the others close behind. The entire time Donghyuck hadn’t let go of Mark’s hand.

 

As they stepped into the pretty nice apartment, a voice called out. “Markie and friends! Come into the living room!” Mark was relieved to hear the familiar soft tone of Jungwoo’s voice.

 

He led the group down the hallway towards the living room. From the back, he heard Jaemin mutter, “You know that Yukhei guy? He’s kinda cute.” And then Mark heard the satisfying slap of Renjun onto the back of Jaemin’s head, scolding him not to be a weirdo.

 

Even from just the hallway, Mark could tell that Jungwoo was an eccentric person himself. The lights in the living room were clearly those that could change color, and they were set to a dark kinda purple. This led Mark to feel like they were in some kinda trippy party at three in the morning even though it was 4 in the afternoon.

 

When they entered the dark and homely living room, Jungwoo was sitting relaxed on one of the couches, a juul in his hand as well. Mark wondered if it was common for people in LA to have a nicotine addiction. Jungwoo smiled the second that the group arrived in front of him, jumping up to greet them.

 

He immediately pulled Mark into a hug. “Markie, you’re so tall! Gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever!” Jungwoo pulled away with his signature smile on his face. Mark genuinely wondered how a grown ass man like Jungwoo behaved so cutely all of the time. It was insane.

 

Jungwoo then glanced over to Donghyuck, his mouth widening into a gasp. “Donghyuckie!” He cheered, pulling him into a death-grip hug as well. Mark watched as Jungwoo whispered something into Donghyuck’s ear. Donghyuck replied with a nod, which led to Jungwoo excitedly pulling out of the hug and patting Donghyuck on the head happily.

 

Jungwoo pulled Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno into a hug all at once. “My babies are all grown up!” He pouted, giving each one of them a kiss on the forehead as he went on and on about how cute they were.

 

Mark noticed that Yukhei had entered the living room as well and saw him lean against the wall as he looked on to Jungwoo introducing himself. He was occasionally hitting his juul, but he was mostly smiling over at Jungwoo. Weird.

 

Once Jungwoo finally released the three boys, he stared at Chenle and Jisung with his head curiously tilted. “Now, who are these cuties?” He asked, leaning forward and pinching Jisung’s cheek. 

“That’s Park Jisung, and he’s Zhong Chenle.” Mark explained, pointing to each boy. Jungwoo smiled kindly at them.

 

“Chenle speaks Chinese, Woo.” Yukhei called out. Jungwoo’s face suddenly brightened as he said something quickly to Chenle in Chinese. Chenle beamed at the interaction in his native language, saying something back as well. 

 

“I’m learning Chinese.” Jungwoo explained after turning back to Mark. “It’ll be good to have such cute little Chinese helpers!” Jungwoo cheered, smiling at Renjun and Chenle.

 

Jungwoo looked around the apartment. “Oh, yeah! You guys are staying here!” Jungwoo nodded, mostly to himself, as he directed the younger boys over towards one of the rooms in the apartment. They followed him over and entered a room that was surprisingly big. It was a pretty nice room, with a glass door leading out to a balcony, and it was filled with nice furniture. This room, thankfully, had seemingly normal lighting, unlike the party-lighting of the living room. “There’s one guest room with two beds. There’s an air mattress, too. In the closet.” Jungwoo explained.

 

“Thank you, Jungwoo. For letting us stay.” Mark told him sincerely. Without Jungwoo, there was no way they’d be able to come here. 

 

Jungwoo just flashed a smile and patted Mark on the shoulder. “Once you guys get your stuff in here, come out into the living room and we can talk!” And then Jungwoo headed out of the room, leaving the group of boys peering around the bedroom.

 

However, as soon as Jungwoo walked out, absolute chaos broke out as Donghyuck and Jisung both darted forward and jumped onto one of the beds, trying to claim if for themselves. Mark didn’t worry about claiming a bed, since he and Donghyuck would always end up sharing. Donghyuck would actually murder Jisung before he’d give up sleeping on a real mattress.

 

“Swear to God, Jisung Park, I’ll beat your ass!” Donghyuck shouted, grabbing one of the pillows and using it to hit the youngest over the head. 

 

“Language.” Mark sighed. He honestly didn’t care if they swore, but it was so funny to see Jisung’s face when the other members babied him. 

 

Just like he thought, Jisung paused his slapping of Donghyuck to give Mark an annoyed look before he got yanked back into the fight by Donghyuck shoving him off the bed.

 

Chenle groaned from the sidelines, reaching down to help Jisung up once he hit the floor. “That’s definitely a foul! He could’ve been seriously hurt!” Chenle looked offended, while Donghyuck just sprawled out on the bed while sticking his tongue out at Jisung.

 

Meanwhile, on the other bed, Jeno, Renjun, and Jaemin were unpacking quietly conversing, seemingly uninterested in all the fighting. Mark tilted his head as he watched the group of three, moving so in sync and conversation flowing so naturally. Mark let himself smile, just a tiny bit, at the thought of how perfect they were for each other.

 

Mark turned back around at the sound of Chenle gasping exasperatedly. The Chinese boy was holding up the box that the air mattress was in. “It’s a twin mattress.” Chenle spat, causing everyone in the room, minus Chenle and Jisung, to burst into laughter.

 

“Jisung barely fits in a  _ queen  _ bed!” Renjun laughed, pointing over at where Jisung was staring at the box with a disappointed straight face. 

 

Donghyuck giggled from where he was sprawled out on the real mattress. “Built like one of those wavy inflatable tube men outside of a car dealership.” 

 

Mark smiled once again at the two youngest members, who were now bickering quietly as they went to go set the box down, deciding to save the humiliation of climbing in the tiny bed until the absolute last moment.

 

Mark slipped his shoes off by the door, taking a deep breath. This shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Really, it shouldn’t. He attempted to relax himself, but his mind just continued to run over the thought of the amount of freedom they currently had. 

 

Mark flinched as a pair of hands wrapped around his shoulders. He ducked his head around, only to see Donghyuck with a kind smile on his face. 

 

“Calm down, my love.” Donghyuck sighed, walking around to face Mark and wrap a hand around his cheek and hold his face close. “It’s never good when you worry.” 

 

Mark chuckled. He glanced straight back into Donghyuck’s eyes, almost overwhelmed with the emotions that he brought to him. He knew he was in love with Donghyuck, and he knew that Donghyuck was in love with him. And yet, somehow, sharing affection with him still brought Mark so much pain. He knew he couldn’t display his love publicly, he couldn’t post couple pictures on Instagram, he couldn’t take Donghyuck on dates around town, and he couldn’t even have him over at his fucking house. 

 

Mark sighed, realizing he was getting lost in Donghyuck’s eyes like he always did. He didn’t want to dwell on all the impossible things. He just wanted to think about what was possible now that there was no one to prevent them from being together. 

 

“Hyuckie.” Mark murmured, barely audibly. He noticed the way Donghyuck’s eyes softened at the use of Mark’s special nickname for him. “I love you.”

 

No, it wasn’t the first time they’d said that. It had been almost 3 years since they first said I love you, and Mark had meant it every single time since then. And he really meant it now.

 

Donghyuck leaned forward and pecked Mark quickly on the lips. “I love you too, you big dumb loser.” He punctuated the sentence with a joyful little giggle. 

 

“Alright, romantic bullshit time is over! Let’s go talk to Jungwoo.” Renjun cut in, separating Mark and Donghyuck with a push. 

 

Mark chuckled, but he noted how Donghyuck’s face grew annoyed at Renjun’s action. And not in the way that friends jokingly get on each others nerves. It was in the way that Donghyuck would sometimes get mad at Renjun, looking as if he wanted to actually scream at him.

 

Mark didn’t know what happened between them. It kind of bothered him, because he was Donghyuck’s oldest friend and was basically his boyfriend and he didn’t even know what had caused his relationship with Renjun to be so strained.

Mark’s knowledge was limited to the fact that one day in Donghyuck and Renjun’s freshman year, they had a sleepover at Donghyuck’s house. Afterwards, Donghyuck and Renjun didn’t talk to anyone for a week straight. After getting left on read for five days straight, Mark showed up at Donghyuck’s house. Donghyuck had looked absolutely exhausted, like he hadn’t slept in weeks. He asked Mark to nap with him, which was exactly what Mark did. For like three days straight. Mark never asked what happened.

 

Mark pulled Donghyuck closer by the waist. “Ignore him, Hyuck.” Mark murmured in his ear. The tan boy let out a deep breath and nodded. 

 

Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno were already heading out of the bedroom door and into the living room. Mark and Donghyuck followed, with Chenle and Jisung closely behind. Mark’s eyes had to readjust as the previously purple living room was now lit with pink lights, making it look like some sort of soft porn background.

 

Renjun and Jaemin were leading the group, and they hesitantly stepped into the living room. This frustrated Mark because they were acting so weird and shy. Mark scoffed and glanced over their shoulders to see what had them moving so slowly. 

 

Jungwoo and Yukhei were making out on the couch.

 

So  _ that’s  _ what Yukhei was doing here. Fucking Jungwoo.

 

Not wanting to continue seeing what could only be described as Yukhei literally trying to suck Jungwoo’s face off, Mark coughed loudly. Yukhei pulled back, a bit surprised, but Jungwoo looked so unphased by the boys entering that it was surprising. 

 

“They’re so cute.” Jungwoo chuckled, before motioning for them to come in and sit down. Yukhei left one more kiss on Jungwoo’s cheek before sitting down next to him on the couch. 

 

Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin headed for the biggest couch, settling on it, but still looking a bit uncomfortable. They were doing their weird thing where they somehow communicated every emotion they were feeling through their eye contact. Mark didn’t understand.

 

Chenle and Jisung claimed the loveseat for themselves, somehow still bickering about the air mattress.

 

This left Mark and Donghyuck to sit on the couch beside Jungwoo and Yukhei. 

 

“So,” Jungwoo began, glancing around at the younger boys. “Mark tells me you boys wanted to escape the hell that is your school and your parents.”

 

Mark sighed at the light conversation topic, something that wasn’t too awkward and that all the boys could relate to. 

 

“Pretty much.” Jaemin nodded. “I mean, you remember. I’m sure it sucked for you just as much as it sucks for us.”

 

Jungwoo laughed gently. “Yeah, it did suck. People say that California is an accepting place, try telling that to my parents. They found out I was gay and made sure to tell every single person that knew me. I remember getting called all sorts of things by kids at school. They may be a bit more accepting now, considering I was a freshman when I was outed.”

 

Mark winced as Jungwoo told his story. It hit a little too close to home. He glanced around and saw all of his friends, along with Yukhei, listening intently to Jungwoo’s story.

 

Jungwoo brushed some hair out of his eyes as he continued. “I mean, I came home every single day from school with a bloody lip or a black eye. My parents didn’t care. My dad said that’s what I got for being a faggot.”

 

Renjun let out a gasp from across the room. Mark’s mouth fell open out of shock. Mark’s parents obviously weren’t accepting, but they weren’t even close being as cruel as that. 

 

“Around 10th grade is when they completely stopped caring about me. They would never talk to me unless it was a reminder to get my grades up or some shit like that. I’d try and talk to them. I’d ask them how their days were, and they just wouldn’t reply. They would literally look me in the face and say nothing. Absolutely all they did for me was buy groceries. They never gave me money, never talked to me, never did anything. I wasn’t home ninety percent of the time from 10th grade on. When I told them I got into UCLA, they didn’t care. They told me the account information to my savings fund, gave me boxes to put my stuff into, gave me a pat on the back, and told me to never come back.”

 

The room was silent. 

 

Everyone in the room had shock written all over their faces. How is someone supposed to react to a story as cruel as that? Mark felt his stomach twist a little bit.

 

Jungwoo smiled around at the boys. “That’s my story. I’m sure I’ll hear all of yours eventually.” 

 

“Well, you seem to be a different kind of person now.” Jaemin commented. Jungwoo smiled and nodded. 

 

“LA changes you, little one. Tonight, we can go out on the town. Me and Yukhei have some friends who work at different little places around here. We’ll get you accustomed to the town.” Jungwoo explained, and Mark noted Jaemin’s extremely excited face. Mark had to agree that he was just as, if not more, excited as Jaemin was to explore the city of LA.

 

“And hopefully, no offense, I’ll get you cuties in some better clothing.” Jungwoo said, intentions all good. Most people would be offended from a claim like that, but Mark agreed that the boys fashion could use some work.

 

“I hope you guys will make yourselves at home here. And we’re not like some weird adult dudes who will tell on you. We’re cool, we’re gay, and we love fellow young gays.” Jungwoo nodded.

 

Yukhei chimed in, “Although, from Tuesday through Friday we’re crashing at a friends house because he invited us. You guys will have the apartment to yourselves.” 

 

And all of the boys shared a look, all with similar smiles that every teenage boy would have if they were just told they get a big city apartment to themselves for three days.

 

And with that, Jungwoo casually lifted a juul off of the table next to him before wrapping his lips around it and inhaling. Mark was amazed at how Jungwoo lifted the juul to his mouth, amazed at how he inhaled so gracefully and how his exhale seemed so calm and normal.However strange it may seem, Mark was just as interested in the juul as he was in Jungwoo’s previous story. 

 

“Woah!” Jisung gasped aloud the second that Jungwoo released the smoke from his mouth. Sharing a similar reaction, Renjun stared with wide eyes. Jungwoo smiled impossibly brighter at their reactions, before sharing eye contact with Yukhei. Yukhei nodded with a similarly mischievous smile on his face. 

 

Mark knew from the moment that he saw Yukhei holding the juul that most of the boys would be mesmerized by it. Mark would be lying if he said he wasn’t too. Social media was the only reason Mark knew what a juul was, so seeing it in person was pretty cool. He knew they would all be interested in it because at home they never did anything remotely close to juuling. There was nothing illegal that they did just for fun. 

 

“Does one of you want to hit one?” Jungwoo asked. Mark widened his eyes. He wanted to try, eventually. He glared over at Donghyuck, who curiously had his brows raised, showing that he also wanted to do it. Mark glanced over at Jisung who was muttering with Chenle, obviously debating if either one of them wanted to do it. That would probably be funny. 

 

Renjun, however, proved once more that he gives no fucks. He reached his hand out. “I want to.” Jaemin and Jeno blinked, intrigued by Renjun hitting it first. Renjun had the expression on his face that he had around 99 percent of the time, the one that screamed ‘I’m a bad bitch and you can’t tell me what to do’.

 

“Renjunnie!” Jungwoo gasped with a smile, clearly surprised at how daring he was being so suddenly. Jungwoo started to hand it over to the boy, only to be interrupted. 

 

“Wait!” Yukhei held his hand up. He grasped Jungwoo’s hand with the juul in it and pulled the top part out, which appeared to have liquid in it. “Jungwoo, give him the speech while I find a better flavor.” He leaned down, pulling out a drawer in the coffee table which was filled with hundreds of the little square things filled with liquid, which must have contained the flavor.

 

Jungwoo nodded in agreement at Yukhei’s claim, turning to face all of the boys. Jungwoo sighed, beginning to give whatever ‘the speech’ was. “I’m gonna address all of you because once you see Renjun get buzzed you’re probably going to want to do it too.” Mark assumed Jungwoo was right. Even seeing Renjun ask to do it made him a little envious. “Depending on how big of a pussy you are, it may or may not burn your throat. However, you will all definitely cough on your first time because everyone does.” 

 

“Don’t be embarrassed! I almost puked from coughing so hard my first time.” Yukhei agreed, still looking through the drawer.    
  


“That’s right.” Jungwoo nodded. “Just wrap your lips around the edge of it and inhale. Do not swallow because it fucking sucks and hurts worse. You’re going to inhale at first, but once you pull it out of your mouth, you have to inhale  _ again  _ and then exhale.” He explained. Mark was listening as if Jungwoo was a preacher or something, not wanting to make that big of a fool out of himself if he ended up doing it. 

 

Yukhei finally sat up straight, triumphantly holding up a new little square. “These are called pods.” He explained. “They have the flavor.” He grabbed the juul from Jungwoo, putting the new pod in it before handing it to Renjun.

 

“Woo’s a weird guy, so his favorite is mint. I put mango in there, though. It’s the most new user friendly.” Yukhei explained. 

 

The room went nearly silent as everyone stared expectantly at Renjun. Renjun, however, was completely unphased. Mark also noted how intensely Jeno and Jaemin were staring at Renjun, as if he was the love of their lives. Which he honestly probably was. 

 

Renjun held the juul between his lips, inhaling slowly for around 5 seconds. Then, he pulled it out of his mouth. He inhaled a bit more before releasing the cloud of smoke, slowly, with his eyes half-closed. And then everyone waited. But he didn’t cough.

 

“What the hell?” Jungwoo muttered. “Renjun, you didn’t cough!” 

 

Renjun, however, didn’t seem to be worrying about not coughing. Instead, he was blinking extremely slowly and looking around, but mostly looking back and forth between Jeno and Jaemin. He honestly looked exactly like how TV shows portrayed kids being high.

 

“Fuck!” Yukhei claimed with a smile. “I miss being buzzed for the first time. He looks like he just discovered the world.” 

 

“Holy shit!” Renjun gasped, reaching out and grabbing Jaemin’s face. Jaemin’s eyes widened as Renjun pulled him extremely close, seemingly examining him. “When did you get so pretty, Jaemin?” He pondered aloud, sending most of the room into laughter. 

 

Mark, even though he was laughing, clearly noticed that Jeno wasn’t. Jeno was just staring, absolutely intrigued, as Jaemin and Renjun were so close to one another. Jaemin’s smile had fell to a smirk and now he was staring at Renjun in a very distinct way. The I-want-to-make-out-with-you way. And Jeno looked  _ jealous. _

 

Mark knew that the three of them had a strange relationship. He also knew that they all loved each other, but they were too dumb to see. They also spent all of their time with sexual tension that was just painful to watch. Mark hoped that the nicotine would knock some sense into them.

 

At this point, most of the room had broken off into their own conversations, filling the room with noise. Mark, however, was too interested in whatever was going on between the three to look away. Would this week finally result in the three of them getting together? Mark really, really wanted to find out.

 

“Injunnie, you’re making Jeno jealous.” Jaemin blinked at Renjun with a fake pout. Renjun widened his eyes.

 

Mark was taken aback by that one as well. Mark, being pretty close to Jeno, had heard just a bit about the ins-and-outs of the three’s relationship. And one thing he knew was that ‘Injunnie’ was a nickname that was reserved for only Jaemin and Jeno to use, and apparently they mostly used it in strangely tense moments like this.

 

Mark leaned over his shoulder to see what Donghyuck thought of this. The tan boy made eye contact the second Mark faced him.

 

“Are you seeing this shit?” Mark murmured, motioning towards the three of them. Donghyuck nodded slowly, his face showing the same expression of interest and vague confusion that Mark had.

 

“They’re gonna fuck on that couch.” Donghyuck responded, sending Mark into a flurry of giggles, before he turned back around to keep watching whatever the hell was going on. 

 

Now, Renjun was holding the juul and put it up to Jeno’s mouth. He held eye contact as Jeno hit it, and Jaemin was now watching with interest. It was kind of obvious who the center of this relationship was. 

 

Jeno exhaled, but he began to cough. From the other couch, Yukhei literally pulled a water out of nowhere and chucked it over towards Jeno, who nodded thankfully. Renjun was rubbing his hand on Jeno’s back, while Jaemin leaned forward, rubbing Jeno’s shoulder and murmuring comforting things with a smile on his face.

 

Once Jeno had chugged half the water bottle and his breathing was normal again, he claimed that it was someone else’s turn. And then somehow, Mark had a juul in his hand. 

 

“Come on.” Donghyuck motioned to it from beside Mark. “Don’t be a loser like Jeno.” He laughed, Jeno sticking his tongue out from across the room.

 

Mark brought the juul to his lips. His heart was beating out of his chest, desperately not wanting to look like a complete idiot. He inhaled slowly, for… a notably long time.

 

After around 10 seconds of him inhaling, Yukhei’s eyes began to widen. “Mark Lee, you’re gonna get ridiculously buzzed.” He warned.

 

Mark finally pulled the juul out of his mouth, inhaled a bit more, and then released all the smoke. And, surprisingly enough, he only coughed just a little bit. He didn’t even need the water.

 

Mark would’ve been enthusiastic about not coughing too much, however, he felt so fucking weird and he assumed this was what ‘buzzed’ meant. He blinked once, and glanced all around the living room. The pink lights now looked like the coolest fucking thing Mark had ever seen, and as his eyes found Donghyuck, he stared in wonderment.

 

“Woah.” Was all Mark could mutter. He was kind of obsessed with the way this was making him feel, as if he was floating in the air or some shit like that. Nothing was different, and he was still conscious, but somehow the way he comprehended things felt like it changed. 

 

“Dude, Mark’s  _ gone _ .” Jisung commented, finally saying something. Everyone in the room began to laugh, but for some strange reason, Jisung’s comment was the funniest shit Mark had ever heard. And next thing he knew, Mark was literally clenching his stomach from laughing so hard, which just made everyone else laugh even harder.

 

Eventually, though, Mark felt as if he finally came back down to Earth. He was perceiving everything as he always did, which kind of sucked, but it was fine. 

 

Now, however, it was Jisung’s turn. Even the thought of Jisung vaping was enough to make Mark laugh, so he didn’t know how seriously he’d be able to take the youngest boy.

 

Jisung was extremely confident, an uncommon trait for him, as he hit it for the first time. Unfortunately, as he exhaled, he must have gotten something caught in his throat as he began coughing extremely violently. Mark watched in shock, at first not believing that Jisung actually reacted that badly until he began choking.

 

Jisung’s fit of coughing had drawn everyone’s attention as he was struggling to breathe correctly. Jeno had quickly handed him the water, which he had attempted to drink, but only ended up choking even worse.

 

Chenle was visibly freaking out, now beginning to hit Jisung’s back in an attempt to stop the choking. Mark couldn’t imagine how nervous Chenle was, considering Jisung was quite obviously his best friend. Thanks to Chenle, Jisung swallowed down the water and was starting to breathe more normally. 

 

Although Chenle was just trying to be helpful and make sure his friend was okay, the second Jisung caught his breath he didn’t seem too thankful. Jisung had yanked his body away from Chenle’s caring hands with a gasp of,“Get off of me!” And he had turned his entire body away so that his back faced everyone. 

 

Chenle had immediately pulled away, and everyone was left staring in shock at Jisung’s outburst. Mark and Donghyuck had straightened up to examine the situation, while Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun were staring over, concerned.Even Yukhei and Jungwoo, who had just met Jisung, were shocked as well. He was typically so quiet, it was clear, so his scream had surprised everyone.

 

Chenle’s face as he stared at Jisung was so sad that it broke Mark’s heart. The Chinese boy had his lips parted and his eyes searching, obviously looking for the right thing to do or say. “Jisung, I was just try-” Chenle began, only to stop as Jisung stood up off of the loveseat. 

 

Jisung yanked his head back around and Mark, along with the others, immediately flinched at the look of intense anger on Jisung’s face. Mark had known Jisung for years, and this was the first time he had seen an expression as serious as that on the young boy’s face. However, Jisung looked angry, but there were also tears in his eyes as he blinked at Chenle.

 

“Yeah.” Jisung snapped, looking down at Chenle in a shockingly patronizing way. “You were just trying to help. I don’t need your help, you fucking idiot! I’m not a baby!” Jisung had  _ yelled,  _ before turning away and storming off into the bedroom and slamming the door. 

 

The room was left in silence after Jisung left. 

 

Jaemin was the first to make any sound, sitting up and looking around. “I’ll go talk to him.” Jaemin explained, before going and quietly slipping into the bedroom. Once Jaemin was gone, everyone’s eyes fell back to Chenle, who was staring off into the distance.

 

Mark leaned over, trying to place a comforting hand on Chenle’s shoulder. Chenle, though, didn’t acknowledge Mark at all. Chenle blinked a few times and tears began to spill from his eyes.

 

“Oh, Chenle.” Jungwoo murmured, leaning forward as he addressed the boy. “He probably just got upset because he felt embarrassed. He wasn’t getting mad at you, he was mad at himself for coughing like that since he probably thought he looked dumb or something.” Jungwoo explained. Chenle glanced over and made eye contact with Jungwoo before burying his face in his hands and crying harder.

 

“Chenle!” Renjun called, and then he said something in Chinese which Mark prayed was comforting. Yukhei clearly understood, and he added something else in seemingly broken Chinese.

 

“You know how Jisung gets frustrated when we treat him like he’s a little kid. Even though you were trying to help, he probably misunderstood your intentions.” Donghyuck said, and Chenle nodded as everyone there began to add on comforting words.

 

Mark sat back and sighed with relief when Chenle finally lifted his head and wiped his tears away. The Chinese boy leaned his head back on the couch and shut his eyes.Mark hoped everything would be okay, hoped that Chenle would understand that Jisung didn’t mean it. He also hoped Jaemin was in the bedroom successfully calming Jisung down.

 

Mark let out a deep breath. Everyone had fallen into quiet conversation, which was kind of comforting. Mark leaned his head onto Donghyuck’s shoulder. The group hadn’t lasted an hour in LA without having some sort of drama.

 

Mark prayed that things would clear up and that they’d be okay, and that by tonight they’d be able to have some fun.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the chapter delay. I went back to school, and then I got the flu. But I'm back! This chapter is extremely long, but there's some drama, a new POV, and illegal use of nicotine! Yay! I hope you enjoyed. Feedback is bliss! (Also, this isn't edited, so I'm sorry if there are some typos, I just wanted to go ahead and get it out.)


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